Colombia protests Escobar restaurant in Singapore

106 days ago

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The outside of Escobar, a restaurant named after the infamous Colombian drug lord, in Singapore on Tuesday. - AFP

SINGAPORE - Colombia has lodged an angry complaint with Singapore over a restaurant in the city-state named after drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. In a three-page letter to the Foreign Ministry dated Feb. 2, the Colombian embassy expressed "serious concern", saying the eatery was paying tribute to the "worst criminal in the history of Colombia". "The Embassy of the Republic of Colombia wants to share some information to refresh the horror that this criminal caused in Colombia... not to mention the drug addiction he promoted and the war he declared," the letter said. "If the idea of the owner was to make his or her business look profitable and trendy, it is inducing... confusion, because Colombia is not what 'Narcos-Netflix' portrays anymore." It said Colombia cannot "tolerate any more tributes to that criminal." More than two decades after police shot Escobar dead in his stronghold of Medellin, the cocaine cartel leader was immortalized in the hit Netflix series "Narcos". Escobar is still deeply popular in Medellin, where he is regarded as a saint and anti-hero - souvenirs with his face on them do brisk business. - AFP